Review by erinb79 -- Pancake Money by Finn Bell

[erinb79]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Pancake Money" by Finn Bell.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Pancake Money, written by Finn Bell, is not your typical detective book. Mystery novels are not the usual genre I read, because when I do read one I am not usually impressed. Pancake Money is different; there is not just one clear mystery to solve, and the character development concerning the main character is excellent. The only downfall of this intense story is that there is only development with the main character, the rest of them hang out there waiting, for their turn to shine.

It isn't even about a good cop that has gone bad. Bobby Ress is still going to university, learning to be a detective, while he also fights crime with his partner Pollo. They both have wives, Bobby has a child. The writer lets you see inside this cop's life where day to day work becomes running for your life, not to mention what his family goes through. His partner Pollo plays a big part in the book; Bobby learned everything from him, spending every day together. It is very easy to feel what it means to Bobby to have a partner in solving crimes, someone that is with him even more than his family, someone that he shares life and death situations with. It is also easy to see why he was insistent on finding the murderer.

The culture of this small city in New Zealand is composed of both whites and Maori Indians. These Maori evolved into more of a gang culture. Everything centers around the heinous murders of Catholic priests at an out-of-the-way church, and signs all point to the leader of the Maori. Suddenly Bobby is in over his head doing crazy things just to find the killer; even putting his family in danger.

I don't know what it's really like to be a cop in New Zealand, but Pancake Money makes it extremely believable that it could be that hard. Take heed that there is a great amount of pain in this story; Finn does an amazing job with detailing things like breaking bones. He does it in such a way that you can just about feel the pain.

At first glance, the sentence structure seems disjointed, but it becomes apparent very quickly that this writing style works. Besides those few blips I have pointed out, there are no complaints about Pancake Money and I give it 4 out of 4 stars. This is a story that is worth reading, even if you are not an enthusiast of mysteries.

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Pancake Money
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